OUTDOOR LEARNING WHERE WE LIVE: EXPLORING PLACE-BASED EDUCATION AND URBAN ADVENTURES
The 2025 Conference of the EOE Network will be hosted by the Department for Life Quality Studies of the University of Bologna, Rimini Campus from April 14th to 17th. This gathering of practitioners and academics will focus on place-based education and urban adventures.
The world inhabited by the EOE Network, twenty-eight years after its inception, has undergone significant changes. Climate change forced global migration, neoliberal policies, wealth inequality, and technological advancements, amongst other factors, have become integral aspects of contemporary human life. This necessitates a reconsideration of our history and heritage and the “way we do things around here” to foster the development of more sustainable, innovative, and equitable ways of living and learning. These are the needs of today’s society.
In Europe, approximately 74% of our citizens live in urban spaces (United Nations,2023). Responsible and sustainable development planning for the education of our citizens demands that we consider this when we plan for creative strategies for outdoor learning that help us to deliver Quality Education (Sustainable Development Goal 5), Good health and Wellbeing (Sustainable Development Goal 3) and Reduced Inequalities (Sustainable Development Goal 10).
Our 2025 conference will bring together university teachers and researchers as well as youth-workers, teachers from kindergarten to upper secondary school, environmental & outdoor educators and pedagogues from across Europe and further afield. This ‘EOE Family’ will gather to share stories of their practices from teaching and learning in the outdoors through oral presentations, practical workshops and poster presentations.
People have been living and learning indoors and outdoors in Rimini for 2,500 years. Our conference will utilise the urban spaces and Adriatic coastal spaces of both the old Roman city and the vibrant modern city centre.
